Tour of California: Peter Sagan takes race lead with time trial win

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Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) rode into the yellow jersey of the race leader Friday at the Amgen Tour of California, covering a revised 10.6km time trial course 46 seconds faster than previous race leader Toms Skujins (Hincapie Racing) and taking his second stage win of the week in the process.

Sagan, who covered the course in a blistering 12:31, now leads Skujins by 28 seconds in the general classification, with Etixx-QuickStep's Julian Alaphilippe in third, 45 seconds back.

The most prolific stage winner in Tour of California history said after the stage at Six Flags Magic Mountain that he plans to fight to keep the race lead through Saturday's Queen Stage that finishes at the top of Mt Baldy.

"It's just one day," he said. "I want to try."

Sagan has won five consecutive green points jerseys in five previous races here, but he currently trails Mark Cavendish by six points in the competition. Asked of he's targeting the green jersey this year, Sagan said he'll wait until he sees how he fares on Saturday.

"Maybe I want to try tomorrow to be on the front," he said. "And maybe more important is the GC."

Sagan benefited from a shortened time trial course that had to be moved from elevation at Big Bear Lake to near sea level at the amusement park in Santa Clarita. Saturday's 10.6km course is only 600 metres longer than the UCI's cut off for prologues, which Sagan has won in the past.

"I've won some prologues that were seven or eight kilometres at Tour de Suisse, Tour of Alberta and sometimes I was second or third," he said. "I tried today. I believed I could do well."

How it unfolded

The out-and-back course at Magic Mountain started with a slightly rising climb before looping back for a fast downhill finish.

Jos van Emden set the early fast time, clocking in at 12:46 after just 25 riders had finished before him. The LottoNL-Jumbo rider, who won the Dutch national time trial championship in 2010, initially told Cyclingnews he did not think the mark would hold up for long.

"That was not an easy course," he said. "It was pretty hard. I couldn't find a good rhythm and I did not have the best feelings out there."

But as rider after rider passed by, Van Emden's position on the hot seat started to look better and better. As the wind picked up throughout the day, blowing a strong headwind up the finishing straight, his confidence began to increase.

"A lot of times the weather has gone against me," he said. "So maybe this time it will work in my favour."

Van Emden made a cup of tea while his team brought him some warmer clothes as he settled in for his extended stay in the lead. As the final 10 riders closed in on the finish, Van Emden began to pace nervously around the waiting area, moving up to the barriers to check the riders’ times as they crossed the line.

Alaphilippe came within four seconds of Van Emden, and then there were just Sagan and Skujins left on course. But as Sagan flew onto the finishing straight, it was clear he was going to eclipse the lead mark with plenty of time to spare.

An obviously disappointed van Emden quietly gathered his things and made his way back to the race stage to take his place on the podium for second.

"If you come that close you want to win," he said. "Later I will be proud, but now it's just disappointing."

Skujins crossed the line with the 34th best time of the day, ceding the leader's jersey he’s held since taking it with an audacious 50km solo move on stage 3. If he was disappointed, the 23-year-old Latvian didn't show it as he warmed down on his trainer.

"Sagan just blew everyone out of the water, so there was nothing I could do there," he said. "I focused on my own ride, and I think I did pretty well, so I'm happy with that, and I'll look forward to tomorrow.

"I was thinking I would win stage 1 and keep the jersey throughout the eight days," he joked, "so I'm kind of disappointed. But, yeah, I never imagined I'd be in yellow for a single day or a single moment in the race, but it was great."

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